Source
https://www.designkit.org/resources/1.html — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Summary
IDEO.org’s Field Guide to Human-Centered Design is the canonical practitioner reference for HCD methodology applied to social sector challenges. It structures design work across three phases — Inspiration (deep community understanding), Ideation (generative problem-solving), and Implementation (prototyping and scaling) — using 57 methods. The guide frames design success through a triple lens: desirability (human needs), feasibility (technical possibility), and viability (financial sustainability).
Key thesis insights
- Triple lens as community technology evaluation framework: HCD’s Desirable/Feasible/Viable Venn diagram offers a ready-made structure for evaluating technology interventions in Neobiome communities — mapping onto SSI (desirable outcomes), EDT (technically feasible systems), and economic viability (community financial model). The guide argues that solutions must satisfy all three simultaneously to achieve real impact.
- Empathy-first design: HCD begins with building deep understanding of the people being designed for (“their hopes, fears, and needs”) before generating solutions. This directly supports the thesis argument for participatory, community-led technology adoption over top-down deployment — aligning with I03 (local wisdom) and I05 (governance) SSI dimensions.
- Prototyping and iteration over planning: The guide advocates making ideas tangible early (“fail early and often”) and iterating based on real feedback rather than optimising on paper. This is relevant to the thesis argument about how communities should adopt and adapt technologies — appropriate technology (D10) principles.
- Social sector framing: The guide is explicitly written for “intractable problems like poverty, gender equality, and clean water” in community and developing-world contexts, making it methodologically relevant to how self-sufficient remote communities should approach technology selection and co-design — not just what technologies to use.
- Diverge/converge process: HCD’s explicit diverge-then-converge cycle across phases offers a model for how community energy or food system design should proceed — broad option generation before convergence on a specific solution — useful framing for the Neobiome Intelligence design process itself.
Research targets
None identified.
Connections
Referenced by
Concepts (1): Research Methodology